When We Think We Know...

Every Tuesday we have a Scripture Study class that we have for anyone who wants to come and study the scriptures. We take turns teaching and preparing lesson... and this week we're teaching. This week I am with a new companion... Sister Lee from Hong Kong. We're just together for the week, but we have the task of teaching the last lesson before for scripture study before Christmas! We've covered a lot in our class about the true meaning of Christmas, how we can make the season a time about Christ, and so forth.

As I was thinking about what we could teach I thought about a Christmas story I had just read the night before about how a young man is put together with another man, named Bill, to go out and visit people from church. The young man thinks that Bill is the wrong example for those they will be teaching. He is rough around the edges and not very tidy in appearance, he smokes and so forth. As they go out and visit these people, the young man sees that Bill is caring and charitable. Each person they visit expresses gratitude of how much Bill has done for them. At the end of each lesson Bill asks the young man to share a message. As part of his Christmas message he shares these scriptures~ Luke 18:10-13

 10 Two men went up into the temple to ^apray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am ^anot as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

 12 I ^afast twice in the week, I give ^btithes of all that I ^cpossess.

 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a ^asinner.

After he shares this message Bill says he doesn't quite understand it but that he probably should have spent more time studying the scriptures rather than studying diesel engines. The young man replies with "But you you know the scriptures Bill."

What a GREAT concept! We don't know the scriptures until we're following the commandments and words inside. The example of the Pharisee and Publican is so perfect because we're able to see who truly knows the word of the Lord. 

So think about how you can truly KNOW the scriptures... what do you think you can do?